


Used to the cold

by Kjam



Series: Avengers on the Snowpircer [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Snowpiercer (2013), Snowpiercer (TV 2020), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Snowpiercer Fusion, Cannibalism, Child Death, Dystopia, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hopeful Ending, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:40:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29867199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kjam/pseuds/Kjam
Summary: Natasha was supposed to deliver a big-name politician to Chicago to some train. Instead, it's her who fights her way on Snowpiercer, and fights the daily struggle of being a Tailly. She slowly befriends a little girl named Rachel and her Uncle Bucky, but the train never rests, and danger is always close.This is part of my Avengers on the Snowpiercer series but can be read as a stand-alone. Takes place before the events of Round and round we go.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov (Marvel) & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Avengers on the Snowpircer [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2186016
Kudos: 2





	Used to the cold

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my Avengers on the Snowpiercer series but can be read as a stand-alone. Takes place before the events of Round and round we go.

Natasha was used to the cold. She was born in the snowy winter of Syberia, a daughter of Mother Russia. It was always cold in the Red Room, they regarded comfort as a weakness. She can still remember her first mission, which took place in Italy. She remembers not because of the killing, or the scar she got, but because that was the first time in her life that she felt warm, truly, and utterly warm.

Natasha knew something was very wrong when she stepped out of her victim’s house in Egypt and it was snowing, big fat snowflakes in the middle of summer. But she kept working and killing as the whole world got covered in snow, and it became as cold as the Red Room once was. She was used to the cold, so she didn’t complain, she just did her job and watched.

This job was new. It wasn’t killing or torture. She had to deliver a big-shot politician to Chicago in safety. The mission was surrounded by a lot of secrecy, which didn’t go well with Natasha. Plus, the whole world-is-ending situation made her skittish and suspicious of everything. It didn’t take much to get the details out of the politician. She didn’t even have to torture him, which was kind of a shame, since he had such an annoying face. All it took was a few bottles of vodka and some sex and he spilled everything: the train, Mr. Wilford, his plan. Unfortunately, he died from a sudden heart-attack before she could get the whereabouts of the tickets from him. She searched his every possession over, but to no avail, he must have hidden them somewhere else or left them with someone. It didn’t matter. For the first time in her life, Natasha went against orders and went to Chicago by herself. She was used to the cold, but she had no intention of freezing to death, so she was going to do everything in her power to get on that train.

It was a short and dirty fight, almost too easy. Mostly civilians and a few armed guards, but that never stopped her before. She got on the last car with ease, hid under a shelf, and waited. She was good at waiting.

Hunger. Hunger was worse than cold, she learned that a long time ago. Was this going to be her end? Starving to death on the train that was supposed to be humanity’s last hope? She was laying on her dirty mat, trying to ignore the rumbling of her stomach when a tiny auburn-haired girl climbed up next to her.

“I’m Rachel.”

“Go away, kid.”

“You are hungry. Here.”

She extended her hand with a half-eaten piece of bread. Natasha needed every ounce of self-control not to snatch it from her immediately.

“Why are you giving that to me?”

“Mum said we should always be nice to others.”

“Your mom is a naïve woman.”

“What does naïve mean?”

Natasha sighed and sat up, taking the bread from Rachel’s hand and devouring it in two bites.

Rachel wasn’t afraid of her, which was new. Everyone was afraid of her. She kept coming back, with little pieces of food, or empty-handed, sitting next to Natasha demanding stories. So she gave that to her, old Russian fairy tales, and the ones made up between the girls of the Red Room, whispered among them at night. She could sometimes see Rachel’s uncle lurking from a safe distance. He didn’t trust her, which was good. One day she had enough of his ridiculous attempts of spying on her and sought him out.

“I’m not going to hurt her.”

“Good, because I will kill you if you do.”

She doubted he would be able to but instead of stating that she just nodded.

They came for Rachel at night, when everyone was sleeping. By morning only the bones were left, and even those were broken open, the medullary sucked out. She went to Barnes immediately, who was cradling her bear ( it was named Paws if she remembered right). He wasn’t crying.

“I’m going to take care of this. Every one of them.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“I’m coming with you.”

They attacked around midnight. The gang expected it, so it was a brutal fight, but Natasha wasn’t named Black Widow for no reason. By the early lights of morning, they were all dead. They all ate from the gang leader's heart, every one of the Taillies, swearing that such atrocity would never happen again.

It was her third year, and they were kneeling on the ground, as the Commander held his little speech.

“As you know every year we choose a Tailly to fight on Fightnight. If you win, you will become a Third class passenger, and well, if you lose…”

He drew his finger across his throat and grinned.

“You know the gist. Any volunteers?”

Barnes squeezed her hand.

“If you are chosen, show them what the Taillies can do.”

He whispered. Natasha stood, with many others. It was too good of an opportunity to pass. The Commander looked around, looking for one that was week enough to surely lose, but still able to put up a fight.

“You, in the third raw, the red-headed one. Come here.”

She straightened her back and walked up to him. The Commander sized her up.

“You will do.”

She was standing in the cage, the car filled with screaming and clapping. She starred at her opponent: a bulky blonde man, who was already grinning, sure of his victory. And why wouldn’t he be? She was just a skinny little woman from the Tail. But what he didn’t know that she was also the daughter of the Red Room, an assassin, a spy, a predator. She was the Black Widow. She smiled at him and attacked.


End file.
